The Elizabeth Cole Butler Collection.

The Elizabeth Cole Butler Collection.

Gift of Mr. Donald W. Johnson.

Large masks, with articulated elements designed to add to the dramatic effect of the mask when it is used in a dance, are characteristic of the Kwagiutl. The dancer can manipulate the fins and mouth on this mask so that the whale would appear to be swimming.

The Elizabeth Cole Butler Collection.

The huxwhukw, or mythical Raven, represents one of the supernatural associates of Baxwbakwalanuksiwe’, the cannibal spirit, which appears in the form of birdlike masks in the tseyka, or red cedar-bark ceremony. These masks are commissioned as part of the inherited privilege of being a hamat’sa society initiate. The masks and the dances in which they are worn pacify and tame the hamat’sa, who personifies the cannibal spirit and the insatiable nature of life, and who ultimately exhibits the honored behavior of a high-ranking person. The articulated beaks clap dramatically during a performance, accompanied by the dancers’ characteristic cries.

Worn during the winter ceremonial dances that accompany a potlatch feast, this mask represents the prestigious inherited privilege of a high-ranking individual. The layers of commercial paint reveal that this mask was repainted at a later date, perhaps to refurbish it when passed to a new owner, a hamat’sa society initiate dancer. Masks such as this one are still carved and worn in dances by Kwakwaka’wakw artists and inheritors of this privilege. Ironically, at the time of its creation, First Nations’ ceremonial practices, including the dancing and display of this headdress, were illegal under Canadian law. The artists working during those arduous years of forced assimilation and oppression are celebrated for carrying on traditions that continue in practice today.

The Elizabeth Cole Butler Collection.

The grizzly bear is one of the important crest animals of the Kwagiutl. Masks such as this one were worn in the Tlasula ceremony, which dramatizes the original acquisition of a crest animal by the ancestors of the Kwagiutl. This mask, with its rather blocky carving style, has been attributed to Charley George, Sr., a carver from the community of Blunden Harbor.

The Elizabeth Cole Butler Collection.